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Windows Live goes Local
dualcore writes "PC Magazine is reporting that Windows is going live with a 'new online local search and mapping service.' The interface is pretty close to Google Local, but with subtle enhancements, such as right-clicking anywhere on the map brings up a context menu or the way you can click on a point on the map to select it for directions. The final word on which service is better remains to be seen but this competition will certainly benefit the end-users."
Playing around with it, I find it cumbersome compared to its Google analog; the drag behaviour, for instance, goes into a bizarre sticky mode.
And I'm not afraid to say: Wait to go Microsoft! They've created something very very cool that no one else has. While Google Maps and Google Earth were bigger steps in the evolution of maps, this is still quite a large one and I think Microsoft deserves more credit than they got when they first released Virtual Earth and probably more credit than Google FanBoys at Slashdot will grant them now.
That said, there are some annoying interface issues that make it less polished than Google Maps.
The draggable-maps may have just created interface expectations that can't be met with these photos.
The Siteseeing link from their blog is also very cool.
For users outside of the US and UK Live Local is the better one. Google Maps/Local still ignores most parts of the world
If you do bird's eye view for my office , there are tons of people in the street on 5th avenue. It's too disorganized to be a parade, and Madison has traffic on it, so it wasn't the blackout. There are also two circles of people in the northern part of the image. Anyone know what gives?
Please, for the love of God, no more car analogies.
Works for me with Galeon under Linux. Looks like we're not being ignored anymore!
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
Lately it's google that comes up with the most innovative ideas and MS chasing their behinds. I wonder when the Google OS will appear..
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"Wait to go Microsoft!" ;)
So you're saying I should keep using Google Maps and see how this project progresses later?
Google was hardly the first one to have online maps.
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...its called Terraserver, and it predated Google by a good many years...
-everphilski-
While I don't agree that One-Click shopping should be patented, your post seems more like blatant MS bashing. Google Maps "copied" MapQuest and Yahoo Maps in the sense that they are both similar products. Google made some definate enhancements just as MS has in this case. And MSN is hardly a copy of ICQ, it is used to send instant messages over the internet but otherwise is completely different. Not to mention the fact that AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, and just about any other IM client under the sun does exactly the same thing.
I realize I will probably be modded Troll or Flamebait for refusing to join in on bashing MS, but come on people, this is just wrong.
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- bird's eye view
- right-click menu
Dislike:You probably shouldn't click this.
This is probably an obvious answer to /.ers, but what on earth does http://local.live.com/ have to do with Windows (other than the o/s the service runs on?) This appears to be just another web app, with the windows adjective thrown in for no other reason than brand recognition.
And maybe it's also a sneaky effort on MS's part to convince internet users that dynamic DHTML+JS web pages are somehow related to their operating system... NOT. Kind of surprised it's not "MSN Local Live", or "MSN Live Local" or something... maybe that says something about where the MSN brand is going...
O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
I tried it with FF on Windows and IE. In IE, it feels great. With FF, it just sticks and sticks and sticks.
And obviously greater coverage would be much appreciated.
The greater coverage will come as Pictometry scales up to fly over more cities. Their website mentions each pixel equates to roughly 6 inches on the ground. That's a lot of imagery to collect over major metropolitan areas. 8 bits per pixel, covering several thousand square kilometers at that resolution with 4 different viewing angles is a lot of data.
I'd like to see more geospatial information. Lat/Lon coordinates (at least WGS-84), height (ellipsoid or MSL), etc.
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I'm not talking about the concepts of satellite imagery or map sites. I'm talking about the draggable interface. It feels exactly like Google Maps.
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OK fanboy.
This stuff just drives me crazy!!!! MS was the first to bring online sat images to the net by about a decade. Google copied the concept, but its OK because you like Google better and you think thier product is amazing while the way MS did it sucks. Now MS copies a minor thing like draging an image and its just wrong!
To me this is not just a Google Live/MS Live issue. Same for iPod fan boys who go crazy when another MP3 play copies the color of the case or some stupid detail, but its fine that Apple copied all the functional ideas from others.
Everyone goes on and on about how competion is good, but as soon as someone does something similar to one of thier little "pet" products suddenly its just horrible (even if thier "pet" product is just as guilty as others of copying others).
My complaint isn't about Google or any specific product or company. EVERYONE COPIES EVERYONE ELSE!!!! Thats it, and you know what? Thats a great thing! That lets everyone gain from incremental improvements that are made because of the cycle of copy and improve (or as others would say "embrace and extend").
Intellectually I'm sure we all understand this, but somehow once its "our" product being copied in some little way, we go off bitching about it. STOP IT!!!!!
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
I really love the right click features - getting directions to and from places you don't know the exact addresses of are a godsend.
To be fair, I think Google was already doing significant work on Google Maps before they acquired Keyhole. I'm sure the Keyhole people helped with a lot of the final touches and the integration of satellite imagery, but Google would still have released Google Maps (sans satellite) without the Keyhole acquisition.
But I do agree that Microsoft should get credit when they deserve it (which in this case I think they do)
Even if it wouldn't be seamless, it seems they could still offer the option of scrolling around multiple photos in a mosaic format. Maybe they don't want to break the illusion that you are in this space by allowing you to have a mosaic view of all photos available in an area. Maybe someone can create this (though Microsoft will probably shut it down like Google shut down the Google Maps poster maker).
There's actually a reason why MS did what they did with the Bird's Eye imagery. Since it was taken at an angle (it's an oblique aerial photo), the edges of the images won't necessarily mosaic with the edges of the other images properly, giving us a weird, multi-perspective view. Some buildings would lean on way, while others would lean the opposite, even if they were neighbors.
Granted, this happens in vertical aerial photos like those Google has and MS has in their aerial photo section. However, this "leaning tower" effect is minimized because of the angle of the photo and special methods used to reduce such distortion (known as orthorectification). As such, orthophotos can be panned and scrolled without too much oddness, whereas oblique aerial photos (MS's Bird's Eye view) will look extremely awkward and thus will probably be stuck in a sort of static viewing mode.
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I've also been very impressed with how quickly the Google Earth team has innovated in Google Earth. They took an excellent product and improved it in many ways very quickly and even integrated the Google look in ways that make it clear both Google Earth and Google Picasa are definitely "made" by the same company.
But, terraserver is very similar to the current satellite map systems - albiet using the lower quality images available at the time and with browser capabilities circa 1999.
The only thing that's really different, besides the ability to load your own waypoints and data, is the mouse dragging.
I do fully agree that without a push from competition, Microsoft does almost nothing new. Every once in awhile, they do release something neat, albiet somewhat half-assed and never updated, like terraserver. It's very dangerous to have a company like that in monopoly, and I'm glad there's pressure from Google, open source, etc to keep them moving forward at least a little.
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I accidentally used the mouse wheel, and was surprised by it zooming in and out, actually that is quite nice. Try it ;-)
Mictrosoft does it again. They forgot completely about Canada. The only thing that shows up in the search is Ontario Power Generation, because lord knows, if New York State could not tap into our power grid, bad things would happen! But seriously, I searched for the CN Tower, and it told me no dice!! On google I get PICTURES taken from and of the CN Tower. MS, pull up your pants, and get with it!!